Helix 10 Mega si saves the day.

[Alphahawk]

Every time I go out with this unit it just blows me away with the clarity and just how good this unit is......I can only imagine what models a year or two down the road will be like. I was looking for crappie......and other specie.....but none were to be found during my searches down river. Decided to do a little scanning on way back to ramp to try and find something to save the day. The images show KY bass......but the most impressive.....to me......is the bluegill under the tree. The unit helped me turn what was looking like a bad day into a very good one. Just 2 pics of some KY bass out of several dozen I caught using the UL rod and 2# test line. Life is good!

Regards




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[Alphahawk]

Another spot.

Regardshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170917/85992771fe0a1f87e1bd17c2212bbb4a.jpg


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[TerryD]

Did you catch any of the fish around the tree? And what were the bigger fish above and off the end of the tree? I would've assumed the bigger fish to be crappie..

[Alphahawk]

Did you catch any of the fish around the tree? And what were the bigger fish above and off the end of the tree? I would've assumed the bigger fish to be crappie..



I caught spotted bass and some 7-7.5 inch Gills off that tree. It has been my experience that crappie will stack all over top of each other.......they could have been crappie but I didn’t catch any. Of course now that I have that waypoint I fully expect some crappie to be there in about 2 weeks or so......LOL.

Regards


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[Pinwheeled]

Unreal detail... thank you for sharing


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[Halli]

Nice Fish.

Are you seeing any heavy voltage draws with your Mega, I ask because mine shuts off a lot like when I fire up the big motor or turn on another finder like my 5XHDI.

[Alphahawk]

Nice Fish.

Are you seeing any heavy voltage draws with your Mega, I ask because mine shuts off a lot like when I fire up the big motor or turn on another finder like my 5XHDI.



Yes....been through this with HB. First a little bit about my background.......nearly 40 years in the missile field......more electronics schooling than I knew what to do with. I know my electronics. According to HB my wiring was no good. Well my wiring is 10 gauge off the battery straight to the unit with an in-line fuse. There are many forum discussions about this. Many are trying to tell people their problem is wiring that is too small.....and some folks may have wiring too small but it would have to really be a bad wiring job. Humminbirds own power pigtail is only 18 gauge wire. Just hooking the 6 foot pigtail to my unit and to a battery with nothing else in between I get 6/10th of a voltage drop. With my unit hooked to boat with the 10 gauge wire straight from battery I get almost 1.5 volts dropped and that is with about a 15 feet cable run. Humminbird is using a blocking diode to protect the unit if the cable is hooked up with the polarity reversed....which is fine but there are far better ways to do it than using a blocking diode. Using a blocking diode you will get almost 8/10 of voltage drop. But it is what it is and we can’t fix that. My unit was kicking off too as I would crank big motor. I knew my wiring was good.....took my cranking battery to be tested and it load tested good. This was driving me nuts. So took my cranking battery to another place and it tested bad......took it to another place and it tested bad also. Long story short I bought a new cranking battery and problem solved. The research I did on this I found while many were saying the cause was from using wire too small...but in the end 90 percent of the cases I read about a new battery fixed the problem. My cranking battery is only a group 24 size......the next time it goes bad I will replace it with a group 27. These newer units pull a lot of current. My suggestion is to check your wiring....each splice...connection point will drop voltage some. If you can use soldered connections instead of crimping and 10 gauge wire is really overkill but it really only costs pennies more to use it instead of say 16 gauge. But if you are convinced your wiring is good I would bet money your battery is going bad. If you run 20 feet of 10 gauge wire the theoretical voltage drop will only be .12 volts...of course you will have at least one connection where you tie it to the HB pig tail. If you have no other connections your voltage drop should theoretically be only right at .4 volts after wiring on pigtail. But that is not the case. If you go out to your unit and turn down your brightness you will see your voltage come up. It could have been designed better but with good wiring and good battery all will work......although your never going to see the 12 volt reading on the units screen. Mine stays at around 11 volts on the water all day.....sometimes maybe reading 10.9 volts at end of day. I have talked to several folks who have these units and they have similar voltage readings on their unit.....around 11-11.3 volts. Let me know if you find your battery is going bad.

Regards


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[Halli]

Thanks.
I replaced the Battery with a 950cc Group 31 when it started but it did not help so I reckon I shall be rewiring.

I may just pull my Oil reservoir since I now premix and place a dedicated battery in that spot.

[TNBronzeback]

I think what i am amazed the most by your posts and pictures is your Fish Wispering abilities to keep them fish still on your trough measurer! lol.
I cant keep crappies still in one of those semi enclosed crappie checkers, i could only imagine one flopping and stabbing me while i take a picture of it laying flat.! lol.
My hat off to you good sir!

[oldhick]

Same issue with my HB up front. Ended up wiring it directly to the battery which solved the problem.

[Alphahawk]

I think what i am amazed the most by your posts and pictures is your Fish Wispering abilities to keep them fish still on your trough measurer! lol.

I cant keep crappies still in one of those semi enclosed crappie checkers, i could only imagine one flopping and stabbing me while i take a picture of it laying flat.! lol.

My hat off to you good sir!



I have had that happen to me quite a bit. I have had a couple flop straight up and hit me in the face and as you know crappie have an extra amount of slime on them. Well if you wear glasses with the anti-reflective coating you know how they just smear when you try to clean them. The older I am getting I am taking less pics. I tell myself each time I need to take more but sometimes it just gets old. Yeah I have had some of those stab wounds in the hand.....would hate to get one in the face...LOL.


Regards


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[TNBronzeback]

I have had that happen to me quite a bit. I have had a couple flop straight up and hit me in the face and as you know crappie have an extra amount of slime on them. Well if you wear glasses with the anti-reflective coating you know how they just smear when you try to clean them. The older I am getting I am taking less pics. I tell myself each time I need to take more but sometimes it just gets old. Yeah I have had some of those stab wounds in the hand.....would hate to get one in the face...LOL.


Regards


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It would be a blast to set up a gopro in your boat when you arent in a personal honey hole to record some of the big fish count days you have. All the spots or crappies you find....just cast after cast......would make for some good footage!